Cornflower Witch

Chapter 73 The Sea of ​​Strange Creatures
Fifty meters felt like half a century.

When Hilti stepped into another 'colored bubble', it was like a fish returning to a pond, able to breathe again.

She came to the center of this colorful open space, leaned against a tree to rest, and lay on the ground gazing up at the low, heavy clouds above her head.

This sense of oppression is really unsettling; it feels like the sky is falling.

After lying down for a while, Hilti stood up again. She searched her surroundings and found mushrooms with sexual energy under some trees.

Although she didn't know the origin of these mushrooms, she still planned to collect them. At least these things were rare and possessed 'sexual energy,' which might come in handy later. Because most of these mushrooms grew in a ring shape, Hilti named them 'Ringed Mushrooms'.

【Ringed Mushroom】: A mushroom with various colors and different elemental powers, growing in the colorful realm of a gray and white world.

【Rainbow Mushroom (Red Umbrella)】(Tier 1 - Blood Law), 【Rainbow Mushroom (Blue)】(Tier 1 - Snail Fish), 【Rainbow Mushroom (Black Wrinkle)】(Tier 1 - Death Ash)
She has collected three mushrooms that are intact and carefully placed them in the pocket of her cloak.

After resting, she set off again, this time choosing a more distant direction, another 'colored bubble' leading to the top of the hillside.

Upon entering the gray world, she once again felt as if she were underwater in darkness. Everything was silent; she could only see her own body moving, but there was no sound.

This time she walked a longer distance, crossing an interval of about 160 meters before reaching this 'colorful bubble' to rest.

She didn't expend much physical energy, but the exertion from 'Cui Mi' left her feeling somewhat tired.

If we use 100% battery as an analogy, that trip just now consumed about 4% of the battery, leaving 95% remaining.
She still had a relatively large supply, but she had to consider the extreme possibility that she might not be able to get out of there if she used it all up.

Just as Hilti leaned against the tree, pondering how to conserve her energy and find a way out, a peculiar 'fallen leaf' slowly drifted down from above the narrow grove of trees.

The brownish-red leaf, similar to the surrounding leaves but with a more complex and even somewhat strange texture, suddenly twisted when it landed on the grass behind Hilti. As if it were alive, the leaf leaped up onto the tree trunk and attacked the girl's unguarded nape from the side and behind.

Snapped--

Even though she didn't see it, Hiltiya's advanced [Natural Perception Lv.2] ability allowed her to react. With the acceleration of her breathing technique, she leaped forward rapidly and used the back of her hand to slap away the strange monster.

The force sent the leaf flying against the tree trunk before it slid down. At that moment, the girl suppressed the nausea she had felt from the touch on the back of her hand and focused her attention on observing the other person.

【Fallen Leaf Monster】(Sexuality: Twisted): A bizarre and unnatural life form with two black eyes under the leaves, and then serrated, tiny tentacles along the edges of the leaves.

[Distorted] Sexual appearance!

Hiltiya's pupils widened slightly; this was the first time she had ever seen this kind of appearance.

Sexuality [Distortion]: Impure instincts and out-of-control melodies.

It is almost entirely negative, uncontrollable, and pollutes the world's sexuality. According to records, the entire 'Seventh Era' was a battle against this sexuality.

The reason why humanity's ancestor, the 'Barbarian King' Muretor, led his people across the vast wilderness for nearly twelve years was because their former homeland had been corrupted and decayed by the power of this element, making it uninhabitable. As for the origin of this element, the secret history records that it was due to the third alien planetary descent. Stars from another world tore through the sky and descended upon this world. Their invisible, spreading power distorted and mutated this world, thus giving birth to the [Twisted] element.

Compared to the first time that gave the world life, and the second time that gave the world light, the third alien arrival brought chaos and destruction. The sky fell, and countless dragons and fairies died. In order to resist the tearing impact of the alien and the spying of great beings from the outside world, dragons and fairies joined forces in an unprecedented way, resolved past conflicts, and fought against this calamity together.

The Seventh Age was destined to be an era of chaos and decline. Many beings from the ancient times died, the earth was pierced, the outer shell of the world shattered, and even the once optimistic fairies fell into despair during that era.

With the knowledge she had recalled finished, Hilti once again faced the monster before her. Although it didn't look very big, she dared not be careless.

Drawing her short sword from her waist, Hilti adjusted her breathing. After observing Hilti for a while, the 'Fallen Leaf Monster' launched another attack. It first ran around Hilti, attempting to attack the girl from behind again.

However, once the ambush was discovered, the process became somewhat comical, because the attacker had no legs and could only move by using tiny tentacles and bouncing when leaves bent. These two methods of movement made it easy for the girl to find the rhythm and pattern and easily dodge.

Finding itself unable to flank from behind, the little monster seemed quite annoyed, shaking its tiny tentacles and emitting a strange hiss before attempting to flank again.

Of course, it still failed this time. Hilti, who was already familiar with its behavior, slightly shifted her feet, created distance, and rendered the opponent's attempt to flank it ineffective.

Then it tried to go around to the back.

At this point, Hiltiya began to understand that the other party's intelligence was quite limited, or rather, that they were incapable of complex thinking and could only repeat a certain process over and over again.

"This is getting a bit boring," the girl thought, but she still carefully observed for a while before actually taking action.

The short sword pierced the leaf monster precisely in mid-air, lifted it up, and then pinned it to the tree trunk.

Black blood oozed from the 'fallen leaf' wound, and wisps of blue smoke rose from the bark it flowed over. The tree then underwent some degree of deformation and distortion.

Now Hiltiya understood why the trees here were all strangely shaped and abnormal.

It seems that the "distorted" nature has permeated everywhere, including these trees, only differing in degree.

The only thing that intrigued Hilti was how those mushrooms grew. Could it be that this ancient property of 'mushroom silk' really had resistance to distortion and erosion?

The blood wasn't blood, but some kind of liquid and black mist. When the blood of the Fallen Leaf Monster flowed down, it initially spread and flowed along the tree bark, but quickly evaporated into the air and seeped into the surrounding things.

Finally, Hilti drew her sword and discovered that even the forged blade had undergone some kind of deformation and distortion, with the tip of the blade bent and curled up.

This erosion is so bizarre and powerful; no wonder the fairies back then couldn't deal with [Twisted].

As for how the various races defeated the [Twisted], in fact, there was no victory in that great war. The Twilight Sea beneath the seven continents is a graveyard piled up by countless Twisted monsters.

The Sea of ​​Primordial Embryo has been polluted. The source of all life rhythms, the Blood Rhythm, has been connected with the Twisted One, giving birth to a twisted abomination that will destroy the world in the depths of that Twilight Sea.

(End of this chapter)